Support for People
with Cancer
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Support for People
with Cancer
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| How many Angel volunteers are there? |
| We currently have approximately 4,000+ Angel volunteers in 12 countries. |
| How do you find cancer patients for this program? |
| Patients are referred to us by cancer treatment centers, oncologists, hospitals, cancer support groups, the American Cancer Society, and by personal referral. |
| What are the different types of Angels? |
| Traditional Angels are assigned to a specific patient. They send their patient at least one card or letter and a small, inexpensive gift every week. |
| Card Angels are assigned to a specific patient. They send their patient at least one card or letter every week. |
| Support Angels make regular financial contributions to the Chemo Angels Cancer Support Organization. |
| Prayer Angels are put on a mailing list and notified whenever any of our patients has a special need of prayers. To become a Prayer Angel, send a request to chemoangels@prodigy.net |
| Can I be assigned to a patient in my area? |
| We do not match up Angels and patients/seniors according to their geographic locations. Since our service is provided via postal mail, the location of either party is unimportant. We do match patients/seniors to Angels in the same country whenever possible. For example, we assign U.S. Angels to U.S. patients/seniors, Canadian Angels to Canadian patients/seniors, etc. |
| Can a group of people (such as a classroom, women's club, church group, etc.) sign up together? |
| I'm sorry! We do not accept Angeling groups. Our patients/seniors feel much more comfortable with one-on-one relationships. |
| My child (or grandchild) is excited to sign up as a Chemo/Senior Angel? |
| We do not accept Angel volunteers under the age of 25. Your child may certainly help with your angeling as an Angel-partner with you, but we cannot assign him/her a patient/senior. |
| Why do you not accept volunteers under the age of 25? |
| We used to, but to be honest it just did not work out. Nine out of ten Angels under the age of 25 would end up quitting the program, and it was very disruptive for our patients/seniors and the program. |
| I have just finished my cancer treatment, (or am still going through treatment) and want to become an Angel right away? |
| Thank you so much for wanting to become an Angel! We would love for you to join, but it has been our experience that recent chemo graduates tend to jump in before they are quite ready. They are usually just not back up to speed yet with their lives and health and energy levels, and that is perfectly understandable! We want you to be sure that you can REALLY commit to this! Remember, we are not going anywhere! There is plenty of time for you to become an Angel in a few months. |
| Can I have more than one patient/senior at a time? |
| A few Angels have more than one patient/senior, but we do not encourage it, because we want each volunteer to "give their all" to one patient/senior at a time. |
| Do patients/seniors and angels ever talk on the phone, or meet, or is this not allowed? |
| The Chemo Angels program is carried out strictly through the postal service, with some e-mail thrown in if both parties are agreeable. If an Angel and her/his patient/senior care to take their relationship to another level, that is out of the realm of Chemo Angels and strictly up to the individuals themselves. |
| How would I sign my Chemo/Senior Angels mailings? |
| Always clearly mark your envelopes and packages to our patients/seniors as being from a Chemo/Senior Angel. Please use your own full name and address as a return address. Anonymous Angeling is not allowed. |
| Do you give out or sell your participants personal information |
| The answer is NEVER! We respect the right to privacy for all our participants and we do everything we can to protect their personal information. |
| How long does the average assignment last? |
| The average course of chemo is 3-6 months, often followed by 4-6 weeks of radiation therapy. While some treatments are shorter, others are much longer. 18 months is the maximum length for a Chemo Angel assignment, unless there are extenuating circumstances. |
| How would I know when my assignment to my patient is over? |
| We graduate patients after/if they have received good news from their first post-treatment medical tests. This normally occurs 4-6 weeks after their last treatment, whether it is chemotherapy or radiation therapy. All Angels are notified by the administration at the end of their assignment and can ask to be put on the waiting list if they would like another assignment. |
| Can I expect to hear back from my patient/senior? |
| No, you should never expect to hear from your patient/senior. Our patients/seniors are told from the start that they are under no obligation to respond directly to their Angels. Patient/senior response and feedback varies hugely. Some patients/seniors enjoy responding to their Angel, but most respond minimally, or not at all. We are here to encourage, not to add another obligation to our patients/seniors lives. Please remember, this is not a pen pal program! Patients/seniors are required to check in with Chemo Angels administration once a month, and Angels can request a copy of their patient's/senior's check-in each month from the administration. |
| Is e-mail a part of your program? |
| The Angel/patient relationship is strictly postal. Angels send at least one card, letter or small gift weekly. E-mail with a patient/senior should not be considered a substitute for sending weekly cards, letter and small gifts. |
| I know someone who could benefit from an Angel, but they don't have a computer. Can they still sign up for a Chemo Angel? |
| We do have some patients/seniors without e-mail capabilities. You can sign them up in one of two ways. If you know them very well, you can call them while you are logged onto our website at the appropriate patient/senior sign-up form. Then you can ask them each question, fill in the answers, and submit the form for them. Or you could go to our websites patient/senior sign-up page and print out the appropriate application and mail or give it to the patient/senior. When they have completed the form you can sign them up. But please do not sign up anyone for the program without their consent. For the contact person, you would need to put either yourself or someone close to the patient/senior who has e-mail capabilities. |
| I have a friend who would love to be an Angel, but he/she does not have e-mail. Can he/she help? |
| We know that there are many wonderful would-be Angels out there without computers, but our Angel volunteers do need to have e-mail capabilities. |
| Why do you accept only a certain number of new volunteers each month? |
| We are a relatively small organization. Because of the personal commitment we are not able to accommodate an unlimited number of patients/seniors and volunteers. At any time, we have approximately 2,000 patients and 4,000 Angels in the program. In order to maintain the quality of our organization, we do not accept more people into the program than we can handle administratively. We do not just match people up and leave them on their own. There is a great deal of administrative work going on behind the scenes. We feel that we would be irresponsible to grow beyond our capacity to run the program well. We cannot help everyone, but we are happy to help those we can. |
| I am a Christian. Why do your rules say that I cannot evangelize? |
| This organization is a ministry to cancer patients/seniors, not an evangelical ministry. On our patient/senior application there is a question pertaining to what religion, if any, the patient/senior is. We do our best to assign Christian Angels to Christian patients/seniors, however, if a patient/senior states that they are not religious, we do ask the Angel to respect that, and not to send religious messages or items. Our purpose as a ministry is to comfort and support, not annoy or agitate. We have a large group of Prayer Angels who pray for all of our patients/seniors regardless of their spiritual inclinations. |
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© 2006 Chemo Angels/Website design by: S. Armstrong |
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Questions
Angels Frequently ask...